One Rockies fan's perspective

Carlos Gonzalez will look to hit his 40th home run of the season this week.Photo Credit: Dustin Bradford – Getty Images North America

Well, the last week of the season is finally here. It hasn’t been a fun one, but the Rockies are at least guaranteed to finish no worse than they did in 2014! Carlos Gonzalez will look to hit his 40th home run this week and Nolan Arenado needs two doubles to give him a 40 home run and 40 double season. After this week, we’ll have an interesting and potentially tumultuous offseason to look forward to. Here’s a look ahead to the final six games of the 2015 season.

Season record: 66-90 (5th in NL West, 21 GB of LAD)Number of games this week: Six (3 at Arizona Diamondbacks, 3 at San Francisco Giants)

Season record of this week’s opponents:
Arizona Diamondbacks – 75-81 (3rd in NL West)
San Francisco Giants – 82-74 (2nd in NL West)

The 25th week of the regular season consisted of the final seven home games of the season for the Colorado Rockies as they continue to play out the string. The week started out horribly as the Rockies were swept by the Pittsburgh Pirates, but improved significantly in the second half of the week when they swept the Los Angeles Dodgers to prevent them from clinching the division at Coors Field. The sweep of Los Angeles also helped the Rockies to avoid having their worst home record in franchise history — they’ll finish the season 36-45 at home – and it also assured them that they will finish no worse than last season’s 66-96 mark.

During this week’s action, catcher Tom Murphy hit his second and third big league home runs and Nolan Arenado hit his 40th and 41st of the season. Arenado needs two doubles in the final six games of the season to become to join Hal Trosky in 1936 as the only players in Major League history with 40+ home runs, 40+ doubles, and fewer than 40 walks in a season. Carlos Gonzalez also hit his 38th and 39th home runs and is knocking on the door of the first 40 home run season of his career. Let’s take a look at the rest of the week that was.

This series was downright ugly. Pittsburgh took all four games by a combined score of 33-17 and it was readily apparent which team was a playoff team and which team was in last place. In the series finale, Chad Bettis put together another quality start and dropped his ERA on the season to 4.38 in 109 innings. He should get one more start next week as he looks to finish the season strong. Corey Dickerson also continued to do nothing but hit since coming off the disabled list as he had at least two hits in three out of the four games in the series. Things were very sad as the Dodgers came into town.

This series was much happier! The Rockies swept the Dodgers for the first time since 2007 (there will be no World Series appearance this season though, sorry) and prevented them from getting to celebrate on the Rockies’ home field. Justin Morneau had a great game on Saturday night as he went 4-for-4 in a game that was finished off by Gonzalez’s walk-off home run. Dickerson continued to hit with three more knocks that included a home run on Friday night and David Hale turned in a quality performance on the mound as well. It was a great way to cap off the home portion of what has been an extremely difficult season.

Now it’s time to look at the stand out performances with the player, pitcher, and longest Rockies home run of the week! Don’t forget to check out a running tally of what is almost the complete leaderboard on right-hand side of your screen (the bottom if you’re visiting via mobile).

Dickerson was absolutely on fire this week with seven extra base hits in seven games while he reached base in half of his plate appearances. He raised his wRC+ on the season to 125. He has now made hard contact over 40 percent of the time and looks to be a great asset for the Rockies heading into 2016. Here’s the first of his two home runs last week:

Longest Rockies home run of the week: Corey Dickerson – 452 feet

This one just missed being one of the five longest home runs of the season, but it was still quite the blast. It put the Rockies ahead 7-1 on Friday against the Dodgers. Watch his homer here.

Bettis continued to be one of the Rockies’ best pitchers this week as he put together another quality start against the Pirates. He should make one more start next week to try to put a capper on his first successful Major League season. Here’s one of his six strikeouts:

Share this:

Like this:

Jon Gray’s season will most likely come to an end this week.Photo Credit: Harry How – Getty Images North America

We’re down to just two weeks left in the regular season, and seven of the Colorado Rockies’ 13 remaining games will be played this week. Not only that, rookie Jon Gray’s will more than likely make his final start (or two) of the season this week as well. We’re also still waiting for Nolan Arenado to hit his 40th home run of the season, something that hopefully will happen this week. In the reverse standings (standings in order from worst to first), the Rockies currently sit in a tie for third place with the Milwaukee Brewers and are a half of a game ahead of the Cincinnati Reds, Miami Marlins, and Oakland Athletics. Wins are good for obvious reasons, but losses right now could also be viewed as good things, as they would help the club to have a higher draft pick. Let’s quickly look ahead to the rest of week 25.

Share this:

Like this:

After 16 innings, are they happy they won, or just happy that the game is over?Photo Credit: Harry How – Getty Images North America

Week 24 is in the books and there’s not a whole lot left to say about this season. There are now just 13 games to play before the Colorado Rockies’ fifth consecutive losing season is officially in the books. After that, it should be a very interesting offseason for the club that could, and probably should, include multiple trades and a manager search. Before that, let’s take a look at a few of the notable things from this week.

The biggest thing from this week was the Rockies’ game against the Los Angeles Dodgers on Tuesday night (and Wednesday morning). The game went to 16 innings and lasted 5 hours and 23 minutes before the Rockies finally took home a 5-4 win thanks to Nolan Arenado’s 39th home run of the season. That 5 hour and 23 minute game time made it the fourth longest game the Rockies have ever played. Aside from that, rookie catcher Tom Murphy hit the first home run of his Major League career and the Rockies won their 63rd game of the season, assuring that they will avoid the first 100-loss season in team history. Here’s what happened the rest of the week.

Outside of the 16 inning marathon on Tuesday, there were a few more interesting things from Monday and Wednesday’s games. On Monday, Jon Gray had another encouraging start against one of the toughest offenses in the National League. Jorge De La Rosa had another great outing on Wednesday as well as he tossed a complete game but was the tough luck loser thanks to Alex Wood’s eight shutout innings. After dropping two of the three in the series, the Rockies headed home to begin their last home stand of the season.

In the first three games of a 10-game home stand, the Rockies did a solid job in taking two of three from the San Diego Padres. Rookie catchers Murphy and Dustin Garneau each had solid offensive games as they get acclimated to the big leagues and Arenado had two multi-hit games as well. On Friday, Chad Bettis won his eighth game of the season and kept his hopes for a 10-win season alive while Justin Morneau continued his strong comeback with a double and a triple.

Now it’s time to check out the top individual performances of the week with the player, pitcher, and longest home run of the week. Also remember that you can find a running tally of all three on the right-hand side of your screen (the bottom of the screen if you’re visiting the mobile site).

In another week with no obvious player of the week, Blackmon narrowly beat out Arenado to take home player of the week for the second time this season. He was solid offensively as he rose his wRC+ on the season to 102 and played strong defense as well. Watch him make a great catch against the Dodgers on Tuesday:

Longest Rockies home run of the week: Nolan Arenado – 434 feet

Not only was this the longest home run of the week, it was the most significant. Arenado’s 39th homer of the season put the Rockies ahead 5-4 in the 16th inning, a score that would eventually be the final. Watch his blast here:

After yet another stellar outing, De La Rosa takes home pitcher of the week for the fifth time this season, the most of any pitcher or position player on the club. This start lowered his season ERA to 4.17, an ERA- of 90, as he continues to be the Rockies’ best and most consistent pitcher. Watch the highlights from his start:

Share this:

Like this:

Three weeks to go in the season. Chuck Nazty still has a beard.Photo Credit: Otto Greule Jr. – Getty Images North America

Week 24 is here, and after this there will only be two weeks remaining in the regular season. It hasn’t been a fun season for the Colorado Rockies, but in spite of that, the end of the season never fails in making me a little bit sad. The Rockies will be back in the division this week and we’ve got a doozy of a pitching match-up on Monday night. Make sure to pry your eyes away from Monday Night Football for a while to check it out. If things go well, we may even get to see Nolan Arenado and/or Carlos Gonzalez hit their 40th home runs of the season! Here’s a quick look ahead to week 24.

Season record: 60-83 (5th in NL West, 22 ½ GB of LAD)Number of games this week: Six (3 at Los Angeles Dodgers, 3 vs. San Diego Padres)

Share this:

Like this:

Jon Gray had one of the best starts of his career this week.Photo Credit: Denis Poroy – Getty Images North America

Welcome to week 23, where the Colorado Rockies continued to play out the string. With the Rockies playing seven games on the road, they did a pretty good job from a purely wins and losses standpoint. Their 4-3 record on the week brought their road record to 29-43 on the season. That puts them on pace for a 33-48 road record, which would actually be a pretty significant improvement from the awful 21-60 mark they had away from home last season. As far as storylines go, this part of the season doesn’t have a whole lot of them.

It’s been known for a while now, but this week marked the official end of the Rockies’ playoff hopes as they were mathematically eliminated from playoff contention on Friday, even though they won that day. September call-ups and injuries have also continued to allow some prospects to trickle in. Starting catcher Nick Hundley suffered a cervical (neck) strain that ended his season and subsequently caused the promotion of Rockies’ top catching prospect Tom Murphy to the big leagues for the first time. He only played in one game – he was 0-for-3 with two strikeouts – but it should be interesting to see how he does for the rest of the year and into next year, where we will almost certainly see him again. Another Rockies catching prospect, Dustin Garneau, hit his first two Major League home runs this week while infield prospect Cristhian Adames has also performed well in his very brief stint with the club. Prospects like these should continue to trickle down into the club for the foreseeable future, and they should help to make watching the team a bit more exciting to watch.

In more established big league player news, Nolan Arenado and Carlos Gonzalez each homered this week, Arenado twice, to remain first and second in the National League in home runs. They both remain on pace to hit 40+ home runs and if they’re able to do it, they’ll be the first pair of teammates to hit 40 or more home runs since Jermaine Dye and Jim Thome for the Chicago White Sox in 2006. Let’s take a look at the rest of the week for the Rockies.

The Rockies traveled to San Diego for four games with the Padres that they would split. On Tuesday night, the Rockies lost, but more importantly they got a brilliant pitching performance from top prospect Jon Gray. After not being at his best in his last few outings, his performance here showed why he’s so highly thought of. He was consistently working with a fastball at 94-95 mph with movement and command to both sides of the plate, he had a slider with great depth that he was able to throw both for strikes and as a chase pitch, and he even flashed a couple of outstanding changeups that fell off the table and induced swings and misses. It was a really encouraging outing for him as he appeared to make a slight adjustment from his previous start that really helped him to stay balanced and in control. Adjustments like that between starts are the types of things you’d expect to see from a veteran who’s been in the league for a long time, not a rookie with (at the time) only 26 big league innings under his belt. Keep an eye on that one. The Rockies also hit some home runs in the series, using four solo shots in the finale on Thursday to help bring home a 4-3 win.

After they finished up in San Diego, the Rockies headed to Seattle for their final interleague series of the season against the Seattle Mariners. They even won the series! The highlight came in game one when Chad Bettis had an absolutely brilliant outing as he threw seven shutout innings and had a game score of 74, the fourth highest game score by a Rockies starter this season. It wasn’t a particularly eventful series, but there was also some good work by the bullpen and I would be remiss if I didn’t mention Justin Miller setting a new Rockies record by striking out eight consecutive hitters across three appearances this week. Hopefully taking two out of three here will get the monkey off of the Rockies’ collective backs when they take on the American League in 2016.

Now it’s time to take a look at the individual standouts of the week with the player of the week, pitcher of the week, and longest home run of the week. Remember, you can find a running tally of all three on the right-hand side of your screen!

As we’ve all come to expect when the Rockies play on the road, it was an extremely quiet week for their bats this week. This is made painfully apparent here with Morneau taking home player of the week despite not having a single extra base hit. Nevertheless, it’s good to see him back in the lineup, and a .450 on-base percentage doesn’t hurt. Here’s a look at one of his two RBI on the week, a single that brought home Jose Reyes early on Wednesday night.

Longest Rockies home run of the week: Corey Dickerson – 415 feet

This one wasn’t the longest long home run of the week, but it’s still great to see Dickerson get back out on the field after struggling with injuries all season long. This home run was his sixth of the season and the 35th of his career and it brought the Rockies within a run in what would eventually be a 4-3 win on Thursday afternoon.

It was only one start for Bettis this week, but he was outstanding in it as he shutout the Mariners for seven innings. It’s been great to watch Bettis’ improvement in 2015, and he was really on top of his game in this start. Follow the link here to watch the highlights from his great outing.

That does it for week 23. Stay tuned for a look ahead to week 24 and be sure to subscribe, like View from the Rooftop on Facebook, and follow on Twitter.

Share this:

Like this:

Cristhian Adames is a player to watch for the rest of the way.Photo Credit: Dustin Bradford – Getty Images North America

We’re down to just 26 games remaining in the regular season and the Colorado Rockies haven’t quite clinched a losing season yet! They’d have to finish off the year 25-1 to avoid it, but at least it’s possible! After four games within the division against the San Diego Padres, the Rockies will head to Seattle for their final three interleague games of the season with the Mariners. This time of the year is all about evaluation for a team like the Rockies, so some players to watch for the rest of the way are guys like Cristhian Adames, Kyle Parker, and Dustin Garneau. Here’s a quick look ahead to week 23 of the regular season.

Season record: 56-80 (5th in NL West, 22 GB of LAD)Number of games this week: Seven (4 at San Diego Padres, 3 at Seattle Mariners)

Season record of this week’s opponents:
San Diego Padres – 65-72 (T-3rd in NL West)
Seattle Mariners – 66-71 (4th in AL West)